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Prepaid phone cards will work from most mobile phones when service is provided to those phones by a cellular provider. There are a few tips to be aware of before using your phone card from your cell phone to ensure that you don't see other fees charged to your mobile phone bill.

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR CELL PHONE USE: If calling from a cell phone, DO NOT PRESS SEND BUTTON on your phone after dialing the destination number, or you may start a new call that does not use your ZapTel phone card. We recommend the best way to avoid billing disputes or calling mistakes is to cancel the international service part of your cellular phone carrier service before placing calls in the United States using your phone card.

How Phone Cards Work with Mobile Phones

Phone cards cannot connect you to a mobile telephone system. You still need to pay your mobile carrier for that. Once you know where you want to call, you can save money by dialing a phone card access number and using that service to connect you to the person you want to call.

Prepaid mobile programs such as T-Mobile to Go, TracFone Nationwide, and AT&T Prepaid Phones are a separate subject than using a prepaid international phone card from a monthly billed service. If you're looking for information on prepaid mobile products, please click here .

Travelers & International Students

Make sure your mobile phone is enabled for global usage.

Before taking your mobile phone outside the country, you will need to make sure that the provider will support service to your phone in the country where you plan to use it. This is an important step if you fit into one of these user groups:

You're traveling outside the USA - 48 States and planning to use your USA based mobile phone outside the country.

You're traveling to the USA - 48 States and planning to use your mobile phone that's associated with a different country other than the USA - 48 States.

This is not needed if you plan to use a phone card from a USA mobile phone in the USA.

To make sure your mobile phone is enabled for global usage, you will need to contact your mobile provider. They can tell you whether or not they can provide mobile service to your phone while traveling outside the country and at what cost. Phone cards with global access are not a substitute for making this arrangement with your mobile provider.

Tips for Using a Phone Card from a USA Mobile Phone

Do not dial a number from your mobile phone book.

You may have phone numbers stored in your mobile phone. Normally when you dial these numbers, you look up the number and press either "Send," "OK" or "Dial" depending on the type of phone you have. Pressing any of these buttons to dial the number will disconnect you from your phone card and you will end up dialing the number directly from your mobile phone provider. Charges from this will appear on your mobile phone bill. To prevent this, you can follow one of these suggestions:

Dial the number out number by number. For calls within the USA, dial 1 + Area Code + Number. To dial numbers outside the USA, dial 011 + Country Code + City Code + Number.

Some cards have Speed Dial available. You can program the phone numbers you plan to dial so all you have to do is press the speed dial number and the pound key (#). Click here to see a list of phone cards that have Speed Dial.

Prevent dialing an international call directly.

The most effective way to prevent dialing an international number directly from your mobile provider is to contact your provider and have them disable international calling. You'll still be able to dial the access number for your phone card and dial your international number as you normally would with your calling card.

If you choose not to disable international dialing with your mobile provider, please make sure you hear the following when using your phone card:

When you dial the access number, you should hear the prompt to enter your PIN. If you're using PINzap™ Pinless Dialing, you should hear the balance available on your phone card and will be prompted for the number you'd like to call. If you do not hear this, hang up and dial the access number again.

After entering your PIN, you should hear the balance available on your phone card and will be prompted for the number you'd like to call. If you do not hear this, hang up, dial the access number again, and follow the prompts.

After entering the phone number you'd like to call, you should hear the number of minutes available for your call. If you do not hear this, hang up, dial the access number again, and follow the prompts.

Use PINzap™ Pinless Dialing and Speed Dial to make international dialing easier.

Both PINzap™ Pinless Dialing and Speed Dial can make calling internationally easier. You can associate your mobile phone number with your phone card through PINzap™. This allows you to dial the access number from your mobile phone and access your phone card without the PIN. You can also associate up to 99 phone numbers with your phone card's Speed Dial so all you have to dial is the speed dial number and the pound key (#) to dial the number you'd like to call. Click here to see a list of phone cards with PINzap™ and Speed Dial.

Important Note from ZapTel

ZapTel is not responsible for any charges you may receive on your mobile phone bill when using your phone card.

Do you have a question? We're here to help!

Please send us an e-mail at support@zaptel.com if you have any questions about using your phone card from your mobile phone.